Generally, a puppy grows exponentially from birth and onwards to adulthood. Because of this rapid growth, the puppies need a lot of food to grow into healthy adults.
Indeed it is preferable that after the first few weeks of birth a regime should be implemented where feeding a puppy should result in its growing a gram of pound of the anticipated weight at adulthood.
Additionally, when feeding a puppy, one should ensure that only quality food products that contain all the right nutrients are used. This will ensure that the puppy grows as desired into its right breed weight at adulthood.
There are several sources for one to get quality feeds from, including commercial as well as homemade feed. The feed that is fed to a puppy should usually ensure the puppy’s poop is of a consistent and firm brown color.
Any alteration in the puppy’s poop could be as a sign of a poor diet or another condition and should be caused to consult a vet. Many of the commercial food available for feeding a puppy are tested to ensure that they have the standard nutrients to ensure healthy growth.
For home feeding regimens, one should be careful about adding any new ingredients and ensure that careful monitoring is done to avoid poor diet. Additionally, it is important to note that the cost of the puppy food generally dictates the quality of materials used to make the food.
Therefore to ensure that when feeding a puppy it gets the right nutrients, one should make sure that they buy quality puppy food. One should also consider purchase puppy feed that is formulated for the larger growing breeds of dogs if they are that type.
While puppies generally eat a lot of food, they should not also overeat. Ensure that the dog is not starving but also that they have a visible waist when looked at from above.
There are several ways that one can use to ensure the most appropriate diet for your puppy. However, it is considered a best practice that when feeding a puppy, a variety of feed is not applied as this may cause problems with the puppy’s digestion.
Additionally, as the handler feeding a puppy, ensure that no food that is uneaten remains within reach of the puppy to avoid overindulgence. One may employ different feeding regimes like the use of dry feed, semi-moist or moist food that has been placed in tins especially for pups.
Puppies tend to become thirsty at times, and so one should never take the water bowl away from them. As opposed to the choice of dry and moist or semi-moist feed that is available to puppy breeders, one may opt to give the pups the occasional treat.
The difference between the two kinds of feed for the puppies is that most of the wet and dry feeds available have been manufactured with the nutritional requirements of the puppies in mind to ensure the healthiest formulation of feed for them.
Treats, on the other hand, may come in a variety of forms with some of the commercial treats containing lots of sugar in them that may not augur well for the health of your puppies. With the introduction of treats into the food supply of the pups, it may be advisable to reduce the amount of food that is given to them. When feeding a puppy with treats, one must ensure that the quantity of the treats does not exceed 15% of the total food given to them.
Some treats that are chewed by puppies may help them when they are teething and lead to better dental health but is always advisable to check the ingredients and consult a vet if the puppy does not respond well to a change in diet.
Keeping in mind that most pet owners cannot resist both chocolate and the teary eyes of a begging puppy, it would be prudent to note that real chocolate is poisonous to dogs causing liver damage and may prove fatal.
Therefore, one should never give chocolate to the pups, and you should ensure that you never let any chocolate lying around the house. Giving dogs sugary treats also destroys their dental health and may cause them to become obese.
One should, therefore, stick to prepared treats especially for dogs and tone down on the amount of human food when feeding a puppy.
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